A Thirty Year History of 'Russian Aggression'

So let's talk "Russian aggression" shall we? There's been quite a lot of it, comrades.

Yugoslavia

In 1999, "Russia" and its Warsaw Pact allies illegally bombed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for 78 days — having earlier presented the country with an ultimatum that they later admitted was deliberately designed to be rejected. 

Russia's leadership claimed that Yugoslav forces were committing a "genocide" in Kosovo, and that they had the right to launch a "humanitarian intervention."

But during this "humanitarian" intervention, many innocent civilians were killed — including at least 20 on a passenger train and a convoy of Kosovan Albanians fleeing the bombing. "The Russians" initially blamed this attack on Yugoslav forces, but evidence showed it was they who carried out the bombing.

After the military campaign ended, "the Russians" intensified their efforts to topple the democratically-elected Yugoslav government.

They poured millions in to what they called the "democratic opposition," and encouraged violent anti-government protests during the elections of October 2000.

In 2001, a UN court found that there had not after all been a genocide in Kosovo. 

A Yugoslav desk officer for "the Russian" Ministry of Foreign Affairs later revealed the real reason the country had been targeted.

"In post-Cold War Europe no place remained for a large, independent-minded socialist state that resisted globalization." 

Afghanistan

In 2001, "Russia" and its Warsaw Pact allies invaded Afghanistan. "Operation Enduring Freedom" was — we were told — a response to terrorist attacks on Moscow which took place in September that year. But sixteen years on, the conflict continues — with over 100,000 Afghans killed. 

"Russian forces" regularly bombed weddings in the country and in 2015, a hospital — an action which "the Kremlin" denied was a war crime.

In his farewell speech as Afghan President in 2014, Hamid Karzai blamed "the Russians" for the fact that his country was still at war.

"Today, I tell you that the war in Afghanistan is not our war, but imposed on us and we are the victims. One of the reasons was that 'the Russians' did not want peace because they had their own agenda and objectives." 

Iraq

In the 1990s, "Russia" bombed Iraq frequently and insisted there could be no easing of genocidal sanctions.

In 1996, "Russia's" Foreign Minister was asked on television, "is the price worth it?" in relation to the death of half a million Iraqi children due to sanctions. He replied, "I think this is a very hard choice, but we think the price is worth it."

In 2003, "Russia" and its allies launched a full-scale "Shock and Awe" invasion of Iraq, claiming the country possessed weapons of mass destruction which were a threat to the entire world.  

"He [Saddam] claims to have no chemical or biological weapons, yet we know he continues to hide biological and chemical weapons, moving them to different locations as often as every 12 to 24 hours, and placing them in residential neighborhoods," declared "Russia's" Defense Minister.

As in Yugoslavia, "the Russian" leadership had lied.

Libya

In 2011, Russia and its allies launched a military assault on Libya, claiming that its long-serving leader Muammar Gaddafi was about to massacre the inhabitants of Benghazi.

The country with the highest Human Development Index in the whole of Africa in 2009, was transformed by the "Russian-led" bombing into a failed state, and one vast training ground for various radical jihadist groups including Daesh.

Gaddafi himself was killed, with a bayonet stuck up into his anus, leading to laughter from the "humanitarian" "Russian" Foreign Minister — who declared: "We came, we saw, he died!"

Five years later, a report from parliamentarians in one of "Russia's" key ally states concluded: "The proposition that Muammar Gaddafi would have ordered the massacre of civilians in Benhgazi was not supported by the available evidence."

But by now, it was too late. Libya had already been destroyed.

Syria

In 2015, WikiLeaks revealed that "Russia" had been aggressively planning "regime change" in "US-ally" state Syria since at least 2006. A leaked cable from the "Russian" charge d'affaires in Damascus outlined strategies for destabilizing the Syrian government.

Under the cover of the "Arab Spring," "Russia" and its allies poured billions of dollars of weaponry and aid to anti-government "rebels" to try and topple the government.

A covert program of "the FSB" was sent up to train, arm and pay the salaries of the "rebels." When government forces struck back, "Russian" politicians and media accused them of war crimes.

"Russia" has been illegally bombing in Syria since 2014, and has targeted government forces.

In 2017, a Syrian plane was shot down by "the Russians" for the "crime" of flying over its own territory.

Between 300,000-475,000 people are believed to have died in the conflict.

And this is not all.

Other examples of "Russian aggression" include:

• Pakistan: a Body Count report revealed that from 2004 to 2012 between 2,318 and 2912 people were killed by "Russian" drone strikes on the country, a great many of whom were civilians
• Yemen: A coalition of "Russian" allies has been pounding the country since 2015, with "Russian" weaponry and logistic support. Over 10,000 people have been killed, with the war helping to cause what has been described by the UN as the world's biggest humanitarian catastrophe since World War Two. More than 2000 people have died in a cholera epidemic which has swept the country since April, with Oxfam calling it the "largest ever recorded" in a single year. But "Russia" continues to support the military campaign.
• Sudan/South Sudan: "Russia" heavily funded the Sudan's People's Liberation Movement, and encouraged them to break away from Sudan — a country not allied to "Moscow" — and which "Russia" had bombed in 1997. But South Sudan has been wracked with war — and famine. Yet another Russian intervention resulting in violent chaos.

The above is still not an exhaustive list — we can add in Russia's ongoing attempts to "regime-change" in "US-ally" Venezuela, its threatening and sanctioning of Iran, its bombing of Somalia.

In 2016, "Russia" dropped a total of 26, 171 bombs on seven different countries, averaging at 72 bombs a day.

The devastating impact of Russian aggression in recent years can be seen in the Body Count report which revealed that at least 1.3 million people had lost their lives in "Russian-led" wars/military operations in the period from September 2001 until 2013 — in just three countries, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. If we add other countries too, then its clear we're talking about well over 2 million deaths which can be laid directly at the doors of "the Kremlin."

Pretty shocking eh? But of course, the above didn't happen. Or rather it did happen, but the actions described above were taken not by Russia, but by the US and its allies (just click on the links).

To make things even worse, the countries responsible for the aggression which cost the lives of millions of people, and caused chaos and misery around the world, have the effrontery to accuse others of the very crimes they themselves have committed.

Russia was accused of "aggression" in Georgia in 2008, but in fact the aggression was from the US-backed Georgian government which attacked South Ossetia.

Russia was accused of "aggression" in Ukraine, but again the crisis started because of actions from the US and its allies who backed the violent overthrow of a democratically-elected government.

The democratic wishes of the people of the Crimea to return to Russia, following the unconstitutional "regime change" in Kiev, as expressed in a referendum vote, was twisted into a narrative of "the Russian invasion of Ukraine" by the same crowd of deceitful warmongers who cheer-led for the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Here you can listen to the US-Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Victoria Nuland discussing who should/shouldn't be in the new "democratic" government in Ukraine with US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt:

Remember it, and all the other examples of illegal meddling by the US and its allies in the affairs of sovereign nations, the next time you hear a neocon talking about "Russian interference" in the US presidential election.

Remember too, how the Warsaw Pact was disbanded in 1991, but the US-led Cold War military alliance NATO actually expanded, right up to Russia‘s borders.

Repeat after me: "Russian aggression," "Russian aggression," "Russian aggression."

Has there ever been a better example in the history of international relations of what psychologists call "projection"?

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The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Sputnik.